Two more months of daylight savings?

If U.S. President George W. Bush likes the idea, U.S. residents – and then Canadians – could be setting their clocks to daylight savings time for eight months of the year.

Two extra months of daylight savings time were part of the Energy Policy Bill approved by the U. S. congress July 21.

Daylight savings time was originally conceived as an energy saving policy: by starting the clock later in the day, people may wake up in the dark, but will find extra sunlight during the evening hours, when they might otherwise be using electricity to light their homes.

If the president signs the bill, daylight savings time will start in March and extend to the last weekend in November across the U.S.

Many Canadian businesses have already suggested that Canada should follow suit. Otherwise, airline schedules, radio and television programming, business hours and financial markets would be out of sync for at least two months of the year, or more in places that don’t switch to daylight savings time at all, such as Saskatchewan.

If Canada were to adopt extended daylight savings time, Nunavut would likely consider making the change.